Going green,staying bright

Room & Board,Edina, Minnesota, USA

Find out how Room & Board is enhancing the appearance of merchandise with sustainable lighting

It’s a no-brainerbusiness decision because of the

money that we save from energy costs.”

- Vance Oliver, Retail Facilities Manager, Room & Board

Customer challenge

Room & Board is a unique home furnishings retailer, and a founding member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council. When the company decided to upgrade to sustainable illumination, it needed new lights that could perform as well its old halogen ones. Could LED technology be the answer?

The right lighting

Room & Board’s retail ethos is built around quality craftsmanship. Specializing in hand-crafted, well-designed home furnishings and accessories, the company believes that great design should be beautiful, affordable and long-lasting. As a result, it was paramount that Room & Board’s showroom was lit in a way that showed the rich aesthetics of its furniture.

As part of on-going sustainability efforts, the company decided to make the switch to energy efficient-lighting. However, it was concerned about losing the excellent atmosphere created by the existing halogen lighting. “Sustainability is very important for us as a company,” recalled Vance Oliver, Retail Facilities Manager. “But we also had to make sure that we did not sacrifice light quality in the process.” An LED upgrade would have to replicate the same high quality light as halogen, so that customers would not notice any difference.

After testing various lamps, Room & Board found a winner: the 7W EnduraLED MR16 Lamps. The technology was chosen for its superior light quality, which can easily replicate the performance of halogen. Approximately 2,800 7W EnduraLED MR16 Lamps were installed, creating a welcoming atmosphere that accentuates the craftsmanship of the furniture. “I told one of our store design associates what was going on and pointed out the new lights”, said Vance Oliver. "She was surprised, because even though she was working in the store, she hadn’t even realized we had made a switch. That says a lot about the quality of Philips EnduraLED Lamps.”

Thanks to the breakthrough LED technology, the new system is using 80% less energy than the previous one. Annual CO2 emissions have been reduced by annually by about 479,736 pounds; this is equivalent to saving about 20,000 trees over a ten-year period.